Directed by Tina Landau, SpongeBob SquarePants features a book by Kyle Jarrow and a score from an impressive roster of pop and rock hit-makers, including Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alexander Ebert of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Panic! At the Disco, Plain White T’s, They Might Be Giants and T.I., and a song by the late David Bowie and by Tom Kenny and Andy Paley.

Before they shipped out to Chicago, we met up with the four leads of The SpongeBob Musical to talk about how they landed the job, what to expect from the musical and what their favorite SpongeBob episode is.